Richard Todd: Action and Adventure Star
Posted: January 28th, 2008, 11:12 am
Richard Todd was as hot as any other British actor in the 50s for making classic movies.
he got of to a good start with The Hasty Heart with Ronald Reagen and Patrica Neal, though i thought his performance and the film was overrated.
in America he got noticed for his role in Hitchcocks Stagefright with Marlene Dietrich and Jane Wyman.
in did a couple of films with Disney, playing Robin Hood and Rob Roy. he also did a great dramatic film A Man Called Peter, a true story of a Scottish minister Peter Marshal who becomes the Chaplin to the U.S Senate with Jean Peters as his wife Catherine. it's a pity no one had an idea for a sequal here, because Catherine Marshal led an interesting life after the death of her husband. Todd also teamed with Bette Davis as Elizabeth 1 and Joan Collins in The Virgin Queen
however, it's for his war movies Todd will be remembered. The Dambusters is still one of the great movies of the genre ever made. the story told of a heroic raid of a squadren of RAF Bombers, who destroyed two of the great west Germany dams with bouncing bombs, but at the cost of 56 lives. both Todd as Guy Gibson and Michael Redgrave as inventor Barnes Wallace were outstanding. it remains to be seen how the new David Frost produced remake will compare. i imagine it'll have a more warts and all feel to the story as the original was made only 9-yrs after the war finished and couldn't really cause offence.
Todd's other great war film was Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst, where he played the ship's Captain Cairns in a true story of how a British Naval ship while under seige by The Chinese Liberation Party, plans and succeeds with a daring escape. future Doctor Who William Hartnel co-starred. the film had a great ending as the ship was met by a Naval destroyer after the successful escape
he also did The Long And The Short And The Tall with Laurence Harvey and Richard Harris. another Todd war movie was D-Day 6th Of June with Robert Taylor
The Longest day was a semi Biopic role for Todd, for the Officer he played was one of the first to land in Normandy on D Day. this was also true of the actor as a young man
he got of to a good start with The Hasty Heart with Ronald Reagen and Patrica Neal, though i thought his performance and the film was overrated.
in America he got noticed for his role in Hitchcocks Stagefright with Marlene Dietrich and Jane Wyman.
in did a couple of films with Disney, playing Robin Hood and Rob Roy. he also did a great dramatic film A Man Called Peter, a true story of a Scottish minister Peter Marshal who becomes the Chaplin to the U.S Senate with Jean Peters as his wife Catherine. it's a pity no one had an idea for a sequal here, because Catherine Marshal led an interesting life after the death of her husband. Todd also teamed with Bette Davis as Elizabeth 1 and Joan Collins in The Virgin Queen
however, it's for his war movies Todd will be remembered. The Dambusters is still one of the great movies of the genre ever made. the story told of a heroic raid of a squadren of RAF Bombers, who destroyed two of the great west Germany dams with bouncing bombs, but at the cost of 56 lives. both Todd as Guy Gibson and Michael Redgrave as inventor Barnes Wallace were outstanding. it remains to be seen how the new David Frost produced remake will compare. i imagine it'll have a more warts and all feel to the story as the original was made only 9-yrs after the war finished and couldn't really cause offence.
Todd's other great war film was Yangtse Incident: The Story of H.M.S. Amethyst, where he played the ship's Captain Cairns in a true story of how a British Naval ship while under seige by The Chinese Liberation Party, plans and succeeds with a daring escape. future Doctor Who William Hartnel co-starred. the film had a great ending as the ship was met by a Naval destroyer after the successful escape
he also did The Long And The Short And The Tall with Laurence Harvey and Richard Harris. another Todd war movie was D-Day 6th Of June with Robert Taylor
The Longest day was a semi Biopic role for Todd, for the Officer he played was one of the first to land in Normandy on D Day. this was also true of the actor as a young man